AFRICA: PART ONE.
I suppose this is overdue, but yeah. Sorry if I seem rambly, but, there's a lot of stuff to explain!!!
dfdfsdfsdfdfdfAlright. I figured I would just start with day 01, and run through the trip.
DAY 01: LEAVING THE CONFINES OF HOME
So, my mom, brother and I left from Dulles Airport in VA at like, 9:30 at night. Our flight itinerary was: Dulles, Va>Heathrow Airport, London, UK>Johannesberg, South Africa>Cape Town, South Africa.
Adventure Frog at Dulles Airport, sipping his Iced Tea.
(A quick intro to Adventure Frog, he's a stuffed frog that I have had for 10+ years now, and I used to take him around with me when I travelled. I pulled him out of retirement for this trip; his last trip had been London in....2005ish? You will see much more of Adventure Frog.)
Total Travel Time: 36 hours (-_-). It was death, but only because we had an 8-9 hour layover in London, but due to airline lameness, we had to wait around in order to get a seat assignment, and COULDN'T LEAVE THE AIRPORT. I was all looking forward to leaving and going into London, but it didn't happen.
We basically ended up making a fort out of the red chairs in the lobby, and slept for a few hours. Adventure Frog did not enjoy the wait.
The flight from London>Cape Town was on South Africa Airways, and holy crap it was nice! Everybody got individual tv's, and it had video games and movies on demand and the food was actually really good. I tried to watch The Darjeeling Limited at about....4 a.m. America time, because I couldn't sleep, but it was just too slow at 4 a.m. America time when my mind had stopped working for me to process it. So I listened to music, watched Dr. Who, etc. We arrived in Johannesberg on time, got on our connecting flight almost 2 hours later, and we were finally off to Cape Town. I don't remember much from it because...I was asleep.
Adventure Frog, officially in South Africa, at the Johannesberg Airport.
The one really, really amazing thing about the flight that I will remember for a long, long time, was flying over the Sahara Desert. Now, we flew at night, so everything was pitch black, but as we were flying over the Northern part of Africa, there would be lights and such. But eventually, everything was pitch black outside, and the only visible light came from the plane wing and the stars. I've never seen so many stars. But the best part was that, on the ground, every hour or so, there would be this tiny spot of light; just the tiniest hint of civilization, deep in the desert. I thought that was really neat. I've tried to remember all of the African countries that we flew over, but I can't recall them now without studying a map. CHAD WAS NOT ONE OF THEM ;_;
Waiting in Cape Town with our luggage.
DAY 3: WELCOME TO SOUTH AFRICA
We were greeted in Cape Town by Zakumi, the official mascot of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. I think he's kind of ugly, but he grew on me. He looks better animated.
So, as soon as we landed in Cape Town, we got our luggage and went to retrieve our rental car, because our first stop was going to be at INVERDOORN GAME RESERVE, which was...two hours away XD. My brother, as annoying as he can be, was really awesome and drove the entire way there, on the opposite side of the road, after being on planes and in airports for literally 3 days. The only mistake he would make is that their "fast" lane is the right lane, so he would be in the right lane driving slow, and these trucks and things would rush up behind him and he would realize he needed to be in the left lane :P
Another break from the story: Drivers in South Africa are amazing. When people feel like driving slowly, they do, and when they see somebody coming up behind them, they'll drive on the shoulder long enough for the person to go past. EVERYBODY does it. Nobody honked, nobody tailgated, they just zoom around you, and go on their way. Interesting. Back to the events.
So, my brother drove and drove, through AMAZING mountains. I had never really thought about what South Africa would look like, so I must admit I had no idea that the southern end of the country was essentially one long mountain range. The mountains...were MASSIVE. Also, they are composed entirely of rock, and unlike the mountains around VA and the Eastern coast of the states, they don't support trees at all - so they are essentially just huge chunks of rock, covered in shrubs that only grow to about 5-6 ft tall. They were amazing, and one of my favorite things about the country.
Mountains. I have better pictures, but I haven't gotten around to uploading them yet :P
So we drive and drive, and finally reach Inverdoorn. HOLY CRAP IT IS THE MOST AMAZING PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN IN MY LIFE. The reserve sits in the dead center of this HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE valley, which is surrounded on every side by mountains (the picture above is actually part of that surrounding-mountain-chain). But the valley, even though it is surrounded by the huge heaps of rock, is almost completely flat. Sure, it has slopes and hills, but nothing that prevents you from seeing the mountains in the distance.
As for the actual reserve, it was beautiful. All of the meals were provided, as there is no other real form of "civilization" within, oh, an hour of the reserve (save for a few farmers). There were 4 main buildings; the office, our guesthouse, another one that I never went in, and the dining room.
Our guesthouse, where we slept. There were six rooms, each with 2 beds for the various guests. The first day we were there (i.e the same day we arrived in Cape Town) there were 6 other guests there, but they checked out the next day, and the entire reserve was left to my mom, my brother, myself, and a really nice man from Japan (it's their off season - did I mention that it was the dead of winter while we were there? It was :P) I think we had arrived there around 4:00, and we could no longer tell up from down, so we went to our room, relaxed, TOOK SHOWERS OH GOD SHOWERS three days of plane travel makes you gross SHOWERS and then were served dinner at 8. IT WAS SO GOOD. They have a professional chef who prepares all of the food, and I don't remember what we ate, I just remember that it was delicious, and a 4-course meal. The dessert was a lemon-tart? I believe? Of course I would remember the desert XD. After dinner, we finally got to go to BED. A REAL BED. SO NICE.
Adventure Frog, finally in a real bed, at the Game Reserve.
Thus ended Day 3, our first offical day in South Africa.
DAY 04: THE SAFARI
So, we woke up the next day, and I believe breakfast was at 8:00. A few things about South African breakfast - they love scrambled eggs on toast :D and tea. Tons of tea. I'm not a huge fan of tea, but I drank plenty of it while we were there. They have packets of white cane sugar, but they also have brown sugar!! If you're big into tea, try it with some granulated Brown Sugar instead. DELICIOUS. After breakfast, we went out on the first of our safari's (we did three in total). This safari included some day-trippers from Cape Town, so there were 10 of us, counting the guide.
Our Safari Vehicle!
Our guide's name was Tomas, and he was French. I'm guessing he's spent his entire life (I think he was in his late 20's) studying animals, because he knew EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING. It was really cool. We saw lions, and giraffe, and kudu, and springbok, and CHEETAHS HOLY COW I GOT TO PET ONE OF THE TAME ONES THAT THEY KEEP. All of the other animals are wild though, and it was just really amazing to see them in their natural setting, doing what animals do (...eat).
My best pictures were of giraffes. I think they enjoy paparazzi.
After our first safari, we went back to the resort area and had lunch (delicious again), and then putzed around until 3:00, when we went out on a second Safari. Now on the second one, all of the day-trippers had left, so it was my family, the Japanese guy (I never did get his name) and our guide.
5 people. Essentially, a private safari tour. AWESOME.
So off we went. Now, the reserve does two things. First, it houses all of the wild animals that I mentioned above on some huge plot of land (I want to say 1,000 hectares? I can't remember the number anymore, suffice to say, it was really, really, really big). Second, they have a separate plot of land for a Cheetah conservation center, which houses 6-7 wild cheetahs, I believe. In order to keep the cheetahs healthy and what-not, they RUN THEM. Essentially, they pull a giant piece of rope down a tow-line, and the cheetah, being a cat, chases it. We got to see that. A cheetah, running as fast as it could. FAST FAST FAST I would not want to be on the receiving end of that run.
My mummy, petting a cheetah.
We also saw two rhinos, who walked RIGHT in front of our vehicle, because when you come up to a rhino in the road, the rhino gets the right of way XD. We sat under a gazebo in the middle of the reserve and drank Sangria, saw some hippos, and then returned, ate dinner, and called it a night. I seriously think that day is the best day I've ever had in my life.
DAY 5: THE LAST SAFARI
Now, we had to leave the next day, but not before we squeezed in one more safari trip - at 7 in the morning, before the sun was even fully up. We went out, our little group of 5, and saw the animals during the sunrise. Then, best part, WE GOT OUT OF THE CAR AND WALKED AROUNDDD. We walked "next to" some giraffe (next to being like, 20 ft?) and there was even an old Kudu who was giving us a look of WTF YOU DOIN IN MY KAROO (that's what the land is called). It was so neat. We went back, packed up, and headed out.
Now, in closing for this Part 01, I am going to leave you with the most mind-blowing part: The total cost for those two days, which included three safaris with an experienced guide, 5 professionally cooked 4/5 course meals, and a room for two nights, came to $140 a person.
Friends, that is cheaper than what each of us usually pays for a hotel room at a convention.
Make it a point in your life to visit South Africa.
If you want to see all of my pictures, head yourself on over here, to Facebook. Also, here's the album with ADVENTURE FROGGGGG.
Stay Tuned for AFRICA: PART TWO.
dfdfsdfsdfdfdfAlright. I figured I would just start with day 01, and run through the trip.
DAY 01: LEAVING THE CONFINES OF HOME
So, my mom, brother and I left from Dulles Airport in VA at like, 9:30 at night. Our flight itinerary was: Dulles, Va>Heathrow Airport, London, UK>Johannesberg, South Africa>Cape Town, South Africa.
Adventure Frog at Dulles Airport, sipping his Iced Tea.
(A quick intro to Adventure Frog, he's a stuffed frog that I have had for 10+ years now, and I used to take him around with me when I travelled. I pulled him out of retirement for this trip; his last trip had been London in....2005ish? You will see much more of Adventure Frog.)
Total Travel Time: 36 hours (-_-). It was death, but only because we had an 8-9 hour layover in London, but due to airline lameness, we had to wait around in order to get a seat assignment, and COULDN'T LEAVE THE AIRPORT. I was all looking forward to leaving and going into London, but it didn't happen.
We basically ended up making a fort out of the red chairs in the lobby, and slept for a few hours. Adventure Frog did not enjoy the wait.
The flight from London>Cape Town was on South Africa Airways, and holy crap it was nice! Everybody got individual tv's, and it had video games and movies on demand and the food was actually really good. I tried to watch The Darjeeling Limited at about....4 a.m. America time, because I couldn't sleep, but it was just too slow at 4 a.m. America time when my mind had stopped working for me to process it. So I listened to music, watched Dr. Who, etc. We arrived in Johannesberg on time, got on our connecting flight almost 2 hours later, and we were finally off to Cape Town. I don't remember much from it because...I was asleep.
Adventure Frog, officially in South Africa, at the Johannesberg Airport.
The one really, really amazing thing about the flight that I will remember for a long, long time, was flying over the Sahara Desert. Now, we flew at night, so everything was pitch black, but as we were flying over the Northern part of Africa, there would be lights and such. But eventually, everything was pitch black outside, and the only visible light came from the plane wing and the stars. I've never seen so many stars. But the best part was that, on the ground, every hour or so, there would be this tiny spot of light; just the tiniest hint of civilization, deep in the desert. I thought that was really neat. I've tried to remember all of the African countries that we flew over, but I can't recall them now without studying a map. CHAD WAS NOT ONE OF THEM ;_;
Waiting in Cape Town with our luggage.
DAY 3: WELCOME TO SOUTH AFRICA
We were greeted in Cape Town by Zakumi, the official mascot of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. I think he's kind of ugly, but he grew on me. He looks better animated.
So, as soon as we landed in Cape Town, we got our luggage and went to retrieve our rental car, because our first stop was going to be at INVERDOORN GAME RESERVE, which was...two hours away XD. My brother, as annoying as he can be, was really awesome and drove the entire way there, on the opposite side of the road, after being on planes and in airports for literally 3 days. The only mistake he would make is that their "fast" lane is the right lane, so he would be in the right lane driving slow, and these trucks and things would rush up behind him and he would realize he needed to be in the left lane :P
Another break from the story: Drivers in South Africa are amazing. When people feel like driving slowly, they do, and when they see somebody coming up behind them, they'll drive on the shoulder long enough for the person to go past. EVERYBODY does it. Nobody honked, nobody tailgated, they just zoom around you, and go on their way. Interesting. Back to the events.
So, my brother drove and drove, through AMAZING mountains. I had never really thought about what South Africa would look like, so I must admit I had no idea that the southern end of the country was essentially one long mountain range. The mountains...were MASSIVE. Also, they are composed entirely of rock, and unlike the mountains around VA and the Eastern coast of the states, they don't support trees at all - so they are essentially just huge chunks of rock, covered in shrubs that only grow to about 5-6 ft tall. They were amazing, and one of my favorite things about the country.
Mountains. I have better pictures, but I haven't gotten around to uploading them yet :P
So we drive and drive, and finally reach Inverdoorn. HOLY CRAP IT IS THE MOST AMAZING PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN IN MY LIFE. The reserve sits in the dead center of this HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE valley, which is surrounded on every side by mountains (the picture above is actually part of that surrounding-mountain-chain). But the valley, even though it is surrounded by the huge heaps of rock, is almost completely flat. Sure, it has slopes and hills, but nothing that prevents you from seeing the mountains in the distance.
As for the actual reserve, it was beautiful. All of the meals were provided, as there is no other real form of "civilization" within, oh, an hour of the reserve (save for a few farmers). There were 4 main buildings; the office, our guesthouse, another one that I never went in, and the dining room.
Our guesthouse, where we slept. There were six rooms, each with 2 beds for the various guests. The first day we were there (i.e the same day we arrived in Cape Town) there were 6 other guests there, but they checked out the next day, and the entire reserve was left to my mom, my brother, myself, and a really nice man from Japan (it's their off season - did I mention that it was the dead of winter while we were there? It was :P) I think we had arrived there around 4:00, and we could no longer tell up from down, so we went to our room, relaxed, TOOK SHOWERS OH GOD SHOWERS three days of plane travel makes you gross SHOWERS and then were served dinner at 8. IT WAS SO GOOD. They have a professional chef who prepares all of the food, and I don't remember what we ate, I just remember that it was delicious, and a 4-course meal. The dessert was a lemon-tart? I believe? Of course I would remember the desert XD. After dinner, we finally got to go to BED. A REAL BED. SO NICE.
Adventure Frog, finally in a real bed, at the Game Reserve.
Thus ended Day 3, our first offical day in South Africa.
DAY 04: THE SAFARI
So, we woke up the next day, and I believe breakfast was at 8:00. A few things about South African breakfast - they love scrambled eggs on toast :D and tea. Tons of tea. I'm not a huge fan of tea, but I drank plenty of it while we were there. They have packets of white cane sugar, but they also have brown sugar!! If you're big into tea, try it with some granulated Brown Sugar instead. DELICIOUS. After breakfast, we went out on the first of our safari's (we did three in total). This safari included some day-trippers from Cape Town, so there were 10 of us, counting the guide.
Our Safari Vehicle!
Our guide's name was Tomas, and he was French. I'm guessing he's spent his entire life (I think he was in his late 20's) studying animals, because he knew EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING. It was really cool. We saw lions, and giraffe, and kudu, and springbok, and CHEETAHS HOLY COW I GOT TO PET ONE OF THE TAME ONES THAT THEY KEEP. All of the other animals are wild though, and it was just really amazing to see them in their natural setting, doing what animals do (...eat).
My best pictures were of giraffes. I think they enjoy paparazzi.
After our first safari, we went back to the resort area and had lunch (delicious again), and then putzed around until 3:00, when we went out on a second Safari. Now on the second one, all of the day-trippers had left, so it was my family, the Japanese guy (I never did get his name) and our guide.
5 people. Essentially, a private safari tour. AWESOME.
So off we went. Now, the reserve does two things. First, it houses all of the wild animals that I mentioned above on some huge plot of land (I want to say 1,000 hectares? I can't remember the number anymore, suffice to say, it was really, really, really big). Second, they have a separate plot of land for a Cheetah conservation center, which houses 6-7 wild cheetahs, I believe. In order to keep the cheetahs healthy and what-not, they RUN THEM. Essentially, they pull a giant piece of rope down a tow-line, and the cheetah, being a cat, chases it. We got to see that. A cheetah, running as fast as it could. FAST FAST FAST I would not want to be on the receiving end of that run.
My mummy, petting a cheetah.
We also saw two rhinos, who walked RIGHT in front of our vehicle, because when you come up to a rhino in the road, the rhino gets the right of way XD. We sat under a gazebo in the middle of the reserve and drank Sangria, saw some hippos, and then returned, ate dinner, and called it a night. I seriously think that day is the best day I've ever had in my life.
DAY 5: THE LAST SAFARI
Now, we had to leave the next day, but not before we squeezed in one more safari trip - at 7 in the morning, before the sun was even fully up. We went out, our little group of 5, and saw the animals during the sunrise. Then, best part, WE GOT OUT OF THE CAR AND WALKED AROUNDDD. We walked "next to" some giraffe (next to being like, 20 ft?) and there was even an old Kudu who was giving us a look of WTF YOU DOIN IN MY KAROO (that's what the land is called). It was so neat. We went back, packed up, and headed out.
Now, in closing for this Part 01, I am going to leave you with the most mind-blowing part: The total cost for those two days, which included three safaris with an experienced guide, 5 professionally cooked 4/5 course meals, and a room for two nights, came to $140 a person.
Friends, that is cheaper than what each of us usually pays for a hotel room at a convention.
Make it a point in your life to visit South Africa.
If you want to see all of my pictures, head yourself on over here, to Facebook. Also, here's the album with ADVENTURE FROGGGGG.
Stay Tuned for AFRICA: PART TWO.